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Thursday, October 6, 2011

Review: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris - until she meets Etienne St. Clair: perfect, Parisian (and English and American, which makes for a swoon-worthy accent), and utterly irresistible. The only problem is that he's taken, and Anna might be, too, if anything comes of her almost-relationship back home.As winter melts into spring, will a year of romantic near - misses end with the French kiss Anna - and readers - have long awaited?

Published in US: Dec 2010
Source: Library
My Review:
I know that nearly everyone has read and reviewed this book for me, but I am just getting off of the sweeping tour of Paris, and the anticipation rush from Anna and St Clair (I'll call him that not because I didn't feel effection for him, but because I'm not the fondest of E name.)
I've seen so many positive reviews, I tried to wipe my slate clean before reading so that I could just enjoy (or not) the story before me. And enjoy it I did. It was a fast, fun, and romantic story that surprised me with the emotional depth at times. There aren't just cute and fun issues here, there are some hard ones--sickness, barriers to friendship, and just raw emotions from events playing out.
I do sympathize with St Clair's reasonings behind Ellie, but I still have to say that it still didn't sit right with me. Sure, she's not there and his feelings for Anna are strong, but why drag it on? It would've been hard as a girl seeing it from Ellie's eyes, but I think that would've been the right thing to do.... I guess I just had to mention that because that's the one thing in the book that still nags at me.
That is not to say that I thought negatively of the book, I loved it. Anna grows and learns so much, and she has a great (and wonderfully written) group of friends, and the tension between her and St Clair kept me on the edge of my seat.
I'd love to hear what you think of my review and/or the book.

7 comments:

So glad you enjoyed this one Brandi! It's one of my favorites:) The Ellie things did drag on a bit and I wanted to just scream at him to be with Anna, but it made everything tense and dramatic. Are you going to read Lola now? I look forward to your thoughts on it!

Great review! I'm so glad you liked Anna. It's definitely one of my favorites, and I can't wait to read Lola (though I refuse to any reviews of it until I've read it). I agree that there is a lot of emotional depth in Anna; that was one of my favorite things about the novel. I also agree that St. Clair was frustrating with the Ellie situation, but I still enjoyed it because of how Anna responded to it. Like Jenny, though, I did want to scream at him to just break up with Ellie for Anna.

If there is ever a book that will make you want to forget your college plans and spend a year in France, Anna and the French Kiss will do it to you! Such a cute story about a girl who's father ships her off to boarding school in France for her senior year of high school. Anna falls for a cute Parisian boy (who is really British/American), but who, alas, has a girl friend. You can imagine what happens next.

I'm glad that you enjoyed this one! It's probably one of my favorite contemporaries and I never noticed the Etienne/Ellie thing until now, but I definitely see where you're coming from. He's still one of my favorite book guys, but I liked seeing why you weren't the biggest fan of his! Great review.:D

Did you read Lola? I'm going to go see if I can find your review on it. :)

I would love to hear from you! (I always try to visit your blog back) I love links, so feel free to link to your blog or a post you like. Sorry, but I am award and tag free zone, I do not have the time to return. Comments are reward enough :)

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Welcome!

I am Brandi Kosiner and this is my personal book blog. I am a 30-something stay-at-home mom to two girls. I love going to Disney, playing video and board games with my husband. I love Young Adult books, with a focus on paranormal romance, fantasy, dystopia and contemporary, especially dealing with illnesses, tough issues such as cutting, eating disorders, issues at home, etc.

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I am a personal book blogger. I purchase my books for review, get them from a library, an arc tour, from author or publisher for review, but I am NOT PAID for this service. I do it for the love of books.

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